From Zombies to Abused Statistics: My Scariest Math Posts
You might need to leave the light on at night after reading these. Brace yourself for zombies, devils, mummies, and...higher homotopy groups?
Roots of Unity
Mathematics: learning it, doing it, celebrating it.
Teaching the Controversy: Is 5 × 3 Five 3s or Three 5s?
The latest (misnamed) "Common Core math" flare-up: is 5 × 3 Five 3s or Three 5s?
A Few of My Favorite Spaces: The Fano Plane
The intuition-challenging Fano plane may be the smallest interesting configuration of points and lines.
A Close Encounter with Grothendieck and His Fence
What happens when we meet our heroes? One graduate student arranged a meeting with reclusive mathematician Alexander Grothendieck and found out.
The Subterfuge of Epsilon and Delta
The epsilon-delta proof, the nemesis of many a calculus student, is an initiation rite into the mysteries of proof writing.
Make Your Own Font, 1 Cut at a Time
Move over, four-color theorem! It's time for the one-cut theorem: You can cut out any shape you want with one cut if you're willing to do some clever folding
A Few of My Favorite Spaces: The House with Two Rooms
What does it mean to understand a mathematical object? I didn't truly believe in the house with two rooms until I built it for myself.
Impossible Wallpaper and Mystery Curves: Exploring Symmetry in Mathematics and Art
In his new book Creating Symmetry , Frank Farris uses ideas from advanced mathematics, such as complex analysis and abstract algebra, to transform snapshots of landscapes, flowers, or even his dinner into beautiful repeating designs. ...
A Few of My Favorite Spaces: The Line with 2 Origins
The provably undrawable line with two origins illustrates a simple but important topological property
Change Your Open Sets, Change Your Life
The concept of the open set is fundamental in topology. What is it, and why does it matter?
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